Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Who
by Blue Mistfall
Summary: After bad luck including procedures for "becoming younger", Jamie and Victoria are changed into babies. The Doctor is to take care of them and find a way to get them back.
1. Flight

As usually, coming aboard the plane which was to cover the way from Berlin to New York was stressful for both passengers and stewards, though the latter were doing their best to seem friendly. Naturally, it was their job, despite there were lots of factors that would have broken them down, like people who would not obey the simple rules like listening to instructions before the flight or fastening the seat belts. But today seemingly everyone was quite normal.

Or not.

While examining the rows of seats with her look, the head stewardess unwillingly watched one of the passengers for a second longer than the rest. Why? There was nothing special about him. It was a small tramp of a man, dressed in shabby clothes which managed to be both too large and a bit short at the same time (apart from his coat's sleeves, which were ready to envelop his hands as well). But it was not about what he was wearing, it was about what was occupying his attention. He was holding two sleeping babies in his arms, which for now were curled up against him, their little fists clutching the folds of his light blue shirt with enormous collar (and a tiny polka-dotted bowtie hidden under it). Those were a boy and a girl, both with full heads of dark hair (the boy's was reaching his chin, while the girl's was longer, almost till her shoulder-blades), and this strange little man seemed not to be bothered with their presence. The stewards knew how annoyed the passengers with children could be, and here it was not about annoyance.

When the plane began gaining speed to take off, the little man's charges (or children - they could be as well) woke up immediately and began softly whimpering.

"Hush, hush, it's all right, I'm here", the little man said, holding them closer. The children sniffed two or three times, their chubby hands raising to their ears.

"Ah, yes, almost forgot. It's for just a time. Come here, Jamie". He put his fingers over the boy's nose. "Blow now. No, not through the mouth, through the nose". The boy obeyed. "Better? Yes? Now you, Victoria..."

After the procedure the babies stopped whining, but still clung to their guardian, not caring about being nearly tied to him with additional safety belts.

"My goodness, it must be hard to look after two of them on your own", the little man's neighbour, a quite young woman with a five-year-old girl by her side, stated. "Is this their first flight?"

"Yes, their first plane flight", the little man replied.

"Weren't you worried about taking them with you?"

"It was inevitable. Basically, I'm the only one who can take care of them".

"They're absolutely sweet, your children", the passenger from the side row mentioned. The little man wanted to reply, but then changed his mind.

A while later there was a new reason for stress, but nothing seemed to bother the little man. Now it was about fighting hunger - the usual plane food did not contain anything required for small children; what to say, it all was hardly acceptable even for a grown-up. Hah! The little man didn't even touch his portion of rice and beef - he preferred feeding a bun and banana rusks (the pack of latter was taken out of his pocket, and it didn't bother him that it wouldn't fit back) to his little charges. The babies appeared to be calm in this questions: they did not play up or anything, they just accepted what was given to them. The only breaking of the rules was committed by the boy: when he was done with his half of the bun, he stuffed his fingers covered in crumbs into the little man's thick black hair.

"Now that's no good, Jamie", the little man tutted, shaking the crumbs out of his mop. "I told you to behave nicely. Did I? Yes, I did. Now would you please obey?"

The boy blinked at his guardian and pushed his fist into his own mouth.

"I just don't understand how you're able to talk so calmly to them", one of the women from the side row noticed. "Usually children understand things only when you give them a good slap".

"Not always", the little man objected.

"You either have no experience of treating children or your head is in the clouds", the woman went on in the intonation of a lecturer. But that didn't bother the little man at all.

"Both", he replied in a casual tone, having pulled his cock-eyed bowtie out of his girl's grasp - she had begun yanking at it. "For me, everybody is children in some way".

* * *

"Why couldn't she land at the airport?.." the Doctor muttered to himself, but then recalled the events which had taken place after Jamie's yelp "Aye, it's a flying beastie!" and collected himself again. Jamie and Victoria were obediently toddling after him through the control bases, though their feet were tangling and their eyes threatened to overflow any moment. No wonder, nine hours of plane flight had been not a joke, especially for their present condition.

Thank goodness the psychic paper worked perfectly for Earth, without any complications... Having reached the hall of waiting, the Doctor flopped onto the free seat (which was the only free here: most of the future passengers were lying on the seats, asleep), and the kids climbed onto his lap. Yes, sometimes even such a cosmic hobo like him would dream of having a little child around, but he hadn't been expecting this to come true. And all due to too persuasive workers of beauty industry... obviously there had been an addition in the massage oil used on Victoria (she had asked the Doctor to introduce her to all those procedures), and the "skin youth" effect had appeared to be too strong and effective and infectious - for humans at least. Anyway, it had shown itself at the least appropriate moment - when the TARDIS had decided to use the HADS and was gone, having left the Doctor with two weeping toddlers. Thankfully his pockets which held everything had appeared to contain a dress, a pair of jeans and a shirt as well - all just for babies. I need to check them more often, the Doctor had thought.

He tapped on the homing device fixed on his wrist. The TARDIS should've been somewhere around, at least that was clear... but now it was about finding the needed time, because diminished Jamie and Victoria had no intention of being separated from their guardian, especially after the unpleasant experience of flying on board a plane.

"Twinkle, twinkle, little Who,  
Something special we're to do.  
Up above the world we fly,  
Like our TARDIS in the sky".

The Doctor hummed it because his hands were too occupied to get his recorder and operate it as required. Now the only possibility was waiting. Oh gods.


	2. Pied Piper

The homing device was showing that the TARDIS was close. Perhaps in space, but the time settings must have been unstable (no wonder: HADS wasn't used too often, so it could have turned rusty), so she still couldn't fully materialize. The Doctor had checked the place for all possible time warps, but the atmosphere in this sense was stable, so the only way was to let the TARDIS arrive was not interfering into her search of safe hour and minute. However, this was hardly an excuse from the statistical point of view... though who cares about statistics?

"Crumbs and crumbles", the Doctor muttered, tapping on the glass of the homing device (if not to look closer, it was quite similar to a wristwatch). The action was closely followed by two pairs of button eyes staring at him from the bottom. "It's all right, don't worry. We just have to wait a bit more".

"Aww", Victoria replied, her bottom lip trembling.

"If I said it'll be fine, it will".

"Wheeeeeee!"

This last was the sound of... guess what? While the Doctor had been busy making conclusions about what the homing device was showing, Jamie had sneaked into his pocket (never mind that it was bottomless) and now was twirling the found recorder this way and that, beaming with all of his tiny-toothed mouth.

"Give it here", the Doctor said quietly, but firmly. Jamie flopped onto the floor from the seat, but did not fulfil the request. "Jamie, give the recorder back to me". The boy stood up, smiling in a mischievous way. "Jamie!"

The next moment Jamie was running as fast as his legs could carry him, giggling like insane.

"Now you're going to get into trouble instead of me!" The Doctor stood up, and in some moments Jamie was practically hanging upside down over his arm, but still did not uncurl his fist with the recorder. "Give it here and..."

The phrase was not finished, for the faintest sound of TARDIS landing rang through the hall. Of course, at the background of human voices and announcements it was hardly heard, but those with trained ears caught it at the same time. The Doctor's ever-so-slight frustration was gone in a blink. Instead, a new thought appeared - if someone was to get into trouble, then he was to be this "someone". He lowered Jamie down onto the floor:

"So you want to run? Come along!"

* * *

"Mama, look, it's the Pied Piper!"

This sentence made even those who cared only about themselves raise their looks and see the sight which can't be seen at every airport. The kid who said this was not too right - there were only two kids following the odd little man who was playing a lively melodic song on his flute. Not only that: he wasn't just walking - it was more of dancing a kicky jig. And he did not care that not everybody felt positive about this.

"Who's blowing pipes here?.."

"SHUT UP!"

"There he is!"

"Man, people are sleeping here!"

The tension was gone as soon as the sound of flute was gone. So quickly. Suspiciously quickly.

* * *

"There we are". The Doctor pulled the closing lever and pushed the recorder back into his pocket. "Next time I'll try to shorten the waiting... Well, wee ones, what will you say?"

Jamie and Victoria bounced next to the console, attempting to see what the Doctor was doing.

"Right then, now I am to find a way to restore you back to your proper condition..." The Doctor sat down cross-legged next to the console and gently pulled Victoria to himself by her hand. "This is not going to hurt, Victoria. I'm simply going to check if everything is left as it's supposed to be..."

He got the sonic screwdriver out and pressed its tip to Victoria's temple, which caused an immediate and unexpected reaction: Jamie's eyes widened, he darted to them and attempted to pull the instrument away from the girl.

"No, no, Jamie, no..."

"Tor-ee-a!" Jamie yelped, oblivious that he wasn't strong enough to do what he wanted.

The Doctor let the sonic go and placed his hands over Jamie's shoulders to calm him down. A primitive thing, touch, but in this case it worked - the boy relaxed in some seconds, though his expression remained rather wary.

"Jamie, listen here, I know that you understand", the Doctor pronounced softly and in an even way. "I am not going to damage any of you, and you know it well. Now remain quietly here, I am to scan both of you. All right?"

Judging by Jamie's expression, he understood it perfectly well, though his eyes occupied half of his face now.

"There's a good boy". The Doctor let him go and returned to the task.


	3. Bubbles

Now this was reassuring. Contents of Jamie's and Victoria's brain and memory did not change, they simply switched roles. Really, if there were the actual "grown-ups in children's bodies", that would've been creepy... But no. Now the emotional aspect took over the rational. In all, it was clear that Jamie and Victoria knew who the Doctor was and completely trusted him, but their choice of decisions was turned upside down.

"Let's try simple ways", the Doctor said aloud, feeling slightly uneasy - those huge brown eyes wouldn't tear off him. "It all began with massage oil, so..."

In some minutes the simplest way to get rid of possible reason (and not only it) was organized. Now the Doctor was sitting on the side of the bath tub filled with water and a thick layer of white foam as well - this was just in case. Victoria was the first to be placed inside, while Jamie was put in a playpen behind the door - this was the only way to keep him away for a while.

"I haven't done this in a while..." the Doctor murmured and squinted - Victoria widely beamed at the sight of bubbles surrounding her and, as every normal child, began splashing and playing around. However, this did not last long, and bathing the girl took not too much time and trouble, apart from the matter that the result was not the expected one. Must've been gotten too deep to wash it off, the Doctor thought, having finished, and wrapped Victoria, who didn't mind at all, in a huge fluffy towel, then placed her into the playpen.

"All right, Jamie, your turn..."

Now this appeared to be not too easy. Jamie didn't want to be washed: when the Doctor scooped him up, he began squirming, attempting to get free, and two or three times he almost reached his aim, having nearly fallen onto the floor. When this part was over and the little one was placed into the refilled bath tub, his energy found a new way out: he began throwing "snowballs" (or rather "foamballs") at his guardian. But this was over as soon as he spotted that now the Doctor was not amused.

"I appreciate your wishes, Jamie, but would you sit still for a moment? The oil may have different effects with different-gendered people..."

But it didn't. Jamie was a child and remained the same all the while. And the Doctor's serious tone (which soon was gone: how can anyone be serious with a small being like this?) had a little effect: soon enough Jamie went on playing with bubbles.

"Close your eyes, Jamie, or the soap will bite you", the Doctor warned after having thoroughly rubbed the little one with a sponge. "What did I tell you?"

Jamie's high-pitched scream was the best answer, so the Doctor had to pour warm clean water over him, calming him down, for quite a long time. But when the bathing was over, Jamie made it clear that he didn't want to get out.

"Enough for today! Look down, you've splashed a whole puddle out!"

* * *

At last they were asleep in normal conditions, the Doctor thought. Jamie and Victoria were huddled under the blankets, keeping close to each other - even when they had been laid to sleep, they had refused to stay apart. Even more, when the Doctor had been about to leave, they had called out for him - in their own way, but clear enough to be understood.

"I'm to learn Baby language some day", the Doctor muttered. "Fine, now the rational thing to do will be..."

Not stopping murmuring to himself, he left, trying not to think about possible consequences of their (highly improbable, but possible) growing up during the sleep.


	4. Energy

"We are travellers. This is what we do".

"Are you God's people?"

The inhabitants of this Nordic village were wary of strangers. Usually the ones from the big world brought - or tried to bring - odd items or new laws which would break the natural laws, like a cart which could move without anybody pulling it or moving pictures, or anything else like this. However, this stranger was different from them all. From the very beginning, he was polite and wasn't talking about "making their lives better". And there were little children with him - a very, very rare feature for the newcomers.

"Let's assume we are. I wanted to ask you if there were odd things taking place here". The stranger gazed at the villagers surrounding him attentively, as if trying to guess if any of them was hiding memories. "Tell me about them".

"Witchcraft". Polyxene, one of the village's elders, crossed herself. "That is witchcraft. Someone comes for our children, and they are found frozen..."

"Comes for your children? How does it usually happen?"

"It leaves no footprints, nothing. In evenings, always in evenings or at night. The children are gone, and sooner we find them frozen to death..." Leena harsly kept herself from weeping - her only child had been gone not so long ago. The stranger frowned.

"Has it taken place before?"

"No. It started about two months ago", Polyxene replied.

The stranger turned around to see what was going . All the children were sitting behind them on the floor, listening to the adults' talk, and the little dark-haired boy in uncommon clothes was among them as well. But his friend was nowhere to be seen... As soon as the stranger spotted it, he darted to the exit and looked out:

"Anybody else missing?"

"My Erast is gone!"

A moment later the stranger was gone as well. Insane soul! There was such snowfall and storm outside that even the native villager wouldn't have found a way home, and no words about strangers! The next moment the dark-haired boy scampered to the exit with a cry of despair, but was caught by the closest adult. No, the villagers weren't going to sacrifice anybody, even the one from the big world. They didn't want to be sinners. And if it was about some hellish powers which the stranger was going to encounter, this was his choice.

The dark-haired boy was pushing the exit door till he grew tired, but this didn't give any result - it was too heavy and he was too small, Finally he sat down onto the floor next to it and dug his nose into his knees. Even better - he would not prevent anyone from watching from the window. Strange things were going on outside, though the snowfall covered almost everything - apart from fire column which appeared out of nowhere. Fire in the middle of snow-covered plain! And it was almost of a man's height!

Then the fire was gone as abruptly as it appeared, and in a short time the door opened again, letting a snow-clad figure in. A collective yelp of horror was heard, but a much calmer voice - though still touched by worry - covered it:

"It's just me".

The dark-haired boy bounced up with joy, because this was his guardian, judging by the voice and shabby clothing which was quickly shown from underneath the melting layer of snow. The stranger abruptly walked to the fire-place and put two little creatures he had been carrying next to it. Oh god. Those were his little charge and the missing boy Erast, both blue with cold.

"Hold it!" the stranger ordered, when Erast's mother rushed over to protect her child. "Don't touch him! If this process is broken, it can finish in the worst way. I will take care of them both, and promise you won't interfere". Pause. "Trust me. I'm the Doctor".

The collective mind existed. Now it was torn between two ideas - this man was insane, but he could help. He returned alive, and that was something... But when the action began, it was too late to get in. And the strangest thing was going on. The Doctor placed his palms onto the unconscious children's chests, closed his eyes, as if in deep thought, and all of a sudden fire began emerging from his fingers. No, that was not fire. That was mist - orange, sparkling and taking various shapes, and not charging up, but enveloping the children. An unearthly tune sounded in the air, so quietly, but it was heard, and the villagers repeatedly crossed themselves.

And suddenly Erast's lashes trembled, and his eyes were open. The same happened to the stranger's little charge. But the odd man continued performing his magic until all colors of life returned to the children.

And then it started.

The scared mother grabbed Erast as soon as the stranger's hand was removed. An explainable action, but also so infectious...

"He's a witcher!"

This yelp, like a gong, made all villagers go insane and afraid at the same time. At first they simply stepped face-to-face to the stranger, who walked away from them, his back to the front, clutching the little girl who clung to him as tightly as she could. The dark-haired boy appeared there as well - now he was in front of his guardian, holding a nicked poker like a sword. Something too mature was in this gesture.

"Run!"

The silence was broken, and the stranger was gone as well. No one wanted to walk outside in such snowstorm - again - but this time there was no fire, there were footsteps, and there was worry. Anxiety. No ore peaceful nights - at least for a week.

* * *

Jamie was running by the Doctor's side all the time, ready to whack anybody or anything with the poker. But this time nothing was in their way, apart from wind, cold and snow. The Doctor didn't mind this - of course, he could set his body temperature to feel comfortable, and this was nothing but a small frost, but he wasn't worried about himself, even though there had been damage. The creature that had been hiding in the snowy desert had been feeding itself on energy, and the best kind of it had been life force of children. This is why they had been found frozen. Victoria and that boy... what was his name, Erast?.. had been almost affected by it, but the Doctor had given some of his own life years up for them. This had been a worthy sacrifice.

"You were right, I was needed here", the Doctor muttered, having entered the console room and released Victoria - his legs were wobbling under him, and he didn't like the thought of regeneration deja vu. A nice sleep would be the best option... His condition muse been seen from the outside now, or was it about catching emotions? Because Jamie was staring at him from the bottom, his expression nothing else than that of an abandoned kitten.

"It's all fine, Jamie, now you won't need to protect us". The Doctor pulled the needed lever, and the double doors closed - only then Jamie cautiously leaned the poker against the wall. "Really, you won't... won't..."

Having stumbled into his room (the TARDIS was kind enough to shorten the way to it), he threw himself onto the bed and fell asleep in a moment. As it seemed to him, a second later he woke up - just to see the children sleeping on both sides. Jamie was cuddled up against his right sight, Victoria - against the left, and their hands were one in one over his chest.

Wish there were better conditions, the Doctor thought.


	5. Habits

"One, two, three, four, five... AH! Jamie, I told you to be quiet!"

The table on which the Doctor had been mixing a try-out portion of rejuvenation oil antidote, shook violently, and Jamie's head popped from under it. Luckily nothing suffered - this referred to both living and not living things.

"If anything of those spills onto you, it can burn you to the bone, so stop crawling around there", the Doctor mentioned, but Jamie went on sitting on the floor, head cocked to the side in curiosity. "Jamie, did you hear me? Out!"

Jamie stood up and walked away, hiding his face. The Doctor felt a twinge of regret about his sharp tone, but he was to finish the possible cure. When the ingredients were mixed, he walked into the console room and found both kids there, bunched together under the console.

"Jamie, Victoria, come out of there".

"Daddy cwoss?"

The Doctor's eyes widened. What, for Gallifrey's sake, was going on? Logically, kids always - fine, almost always - run away and pout if they're told to leave, but this was... even if the TARDIS exploded into a googolplex of tiny blue boxes, the Doctor wouldn't have been so thunder-struck. Ye-es, things would've gone completely different with the same companions, but grown-up, as required...

"No, no, Jamie, I-I-I'm not Daddy, I'm the Doctor".

"Dotta cwoss?" Jamie almost repeated, peeking at him with one eye.

"No, I'm not cross at you. At neither of you. But you know it well what can take place in case of mixing the wrong ingredient in! Don't you?"

Jamie nodded, now staring at the Doctor from the bottom, as well as Victoria.

"Good kids. I didn't mean to shout at you... Come on, I need one more piece for the puzzle".

Hesitantly, the children followed the Doctor back into the lab.

"You wanted to know what I was mixing? A possible antidote for you two. Guess that massage oil was not designed specifically for humans. Pay at your own risk!" the Doctor teased, sitting on a chair and plopping Jamie onto his lap. "But it needs to have a particle of a... well, victim is too strong of a word, but you know what I mean. And I think a bit of blood will do most finely. It's not going to hurt... almost. Very very briefly, I promise".

Jamie was silent when the needle punctured the tip of his ring finger and when several droplets of blood were taken from it.

"See? Now we add it right here and..." The Doctor groaned in reproach when the "antidote" reacted in the dullest way: instead of traditional reaction, there was nothing but a weak color change. So weak that uman eyes wouldn't have noticed it. The steel grey liquid got brownish shade, which promised to turn into scarlet - in no less than a few days. Dissatisfied, the Doctor performed the same procedure with Victoria, and the result was nearly the same, apart from her portion getting greener shade.

"I'm afraid that's not the best answer. Let's wait. If it's not what we need, then there will be a detailed search..."

The Doctor went on muttering until he noticed that now both children were clinging to him, but not in the "scared" way, simply seeking for comfort for themselves and their guardian.

"Habits never change", the Doctor murmured.


	6. Perfection

The first thought was about smell. The smell of dirt, and sweat, and... no, it's impossible... nature. The guard walked forwards through the metal corridor and stood, stunned - or no, this was too much of a word, because it was nothing but rage that not all rules were accomplished. In the rudest way possible!

There were two children in front of him - a boy and a girl, and both dressed unappropriately brightly. Even more than that: their cheeks were blushing with living blood! The guard could feel the smell of their tension, fear and every single emotion - rubbish of centuries. There hadn't been such cases of breaking the laws for ten years at least! Priceless! Every person who found a mistake and corrected it could get the most precious reward - whatever he or she wanted - so the guard wasn't going to lose the chance.

But as soon as he reached out to the kids, something sharp hit him in the fingers, having made see-through liquid flow out of it. There was a small blade in the boy's fist, and the kid was protectively standing in front of his friend, his expression more of a grown-up rebel than of a child.

Spoilt rotten. But that's even better. The reward will be bigger, and the process will be more delightful.

* * *

Annett Robinson felt a bit guilty when she plopped the paper bag onto her chair. She wasn't allowed to play with anything, but today her pal - her only pal - Alexis had given this pack to her. It would've been impolite to reject (and Annett felt very pleased that someone cared about her). Now she was alone at home, so sparing a few minutes before preparing homework wouldn't be wrong.

There was a doll in the package. It was unlike all the dolls that Annett had seen before. It was one foot tall and described a man in well-worn old-fashioned attire, which was all real cloth, and the material from which its face and hands were made was (even eerily) similar to real skin. Even its mop of black hair was incredibly lifelike, and there were tiny skin folds on its face. Truly weird. Any girl would say that it was an ugly doll and any grown-up would say that it was "wrong", but Annett quite liked this little chap.

Now to the homework. Annett put the doll onto the top of the book pyramid on her table and began doing her Maths task - just to get rid of it.

One equation, two, three... mistake. Annett ripped the sheet from her notebook and rewrote everything. It was a usual procedure. When she spotted a mistake in her tasks (even if it was a crossed-out letter), she would always rip a sheet out mercilessly. There was no other way if she wanted to avoid the punishment.

She wanted to toss the spoilt sheets into the rubbish bit, but something caught the corner of her eye. Yes, it was that doll. A new addition, it always catches the eye when you're not used. But here there was another story.

The doll was moving!

Its blue eyes blinked once or twice, then it turned its head to Annett and stared at her.

"Oh crumbs. Have I woken up on a planet of giants?" it asked.

Annett fell off her chair.

* * *

The little boy was similar to a wild animal scaring off its enemies - one hand clutching the blade, the other squeezing the hand of the little girl. And every attempt to touch them was finished in a short wave of the knife, causing the new hand to bleed gel or other chemical liquid.

"Weak, but rebellious", the leader guard said. "Take them both. Maybe it's not too late".

The children managed to cause trouble even when they lost the opportunity to move: their crying and screaming echoed through the corridors. The sound of years! How could people of the past bear it for so long? Never mind. It will soon be gone forever.

* * *

"Why are you all afraid of things you don't know?" the doll asked, its arms crossed. "I'm smaller than needed, at least now, but it's not the reason to fear me".

"W-who are you?" Annett pressed out, staring at it in disbelief. Now she could see that it was not a doll. It was breathing and blinking, pulsing with life head to toe.

"Well... as far as you've understood, I'm not a toy, but a living being. I'm the Doctor", the little person replied, having bounced off the books onto the table. "And I don't like this at all. Why did you tear those pages out?"

"Em... My parents want to make a perfect person out of me. They would punish me even for a small correction, so I've got to", Annett admitted.

"Perfect?" the Doctor asked, knitting his eyebrows together. "I don't really like the sound of this... Do they punish you when you greet other adults not loudly enough? Or when you speak not quietly enough to them? Or when they find an item that doesn't belong to you?"

"Yes, yes and yes... How do you know?"

"Perfection is a frozen thing", the Doctor replied. "But we'll deal with it later, okay? I've got urgent things to do. My friends are stuck in another world, and I'm pretty sure that if your parents saw it, they would give their ideals up... Listen, it's awkward, but can you help me get to my TARDIS?"

"Your... what?"

"It looks like a big blue box. Should be somewhere around, but..." The Doctor shrugged. "Short legs is only part of the problem. And before you can object, I guarantee that you will return here in ten seconds after you leave".

"How?"

"Fifteen seconds, if you ask too many questions".

* * *

Water, water everywhere. How could humans of past produce so much garbage in both senses? Either there were insane old-believers that didn't know they will be caught, or someone else had already filled their minds with rubbish, which was fighting against the needed knowledge inserted.

The little dark-topped girl was all wrinkled, and droplets of water were oozing from her tightly closed eyes, while the wires attached to her temples were pushing the signal into her mind. At her age, children already could fix any damage in any electronic device, and she could only yelp and run. Shame! Her friend wasn't better. Nothing could damage the guards due to their artificial adaptation to their work, but the boy was waving his fists even when his blade was removed.

_Never, never, never. We will never make it possible for the elders to take the ruling positions._

* * *

"It's just a police box. Old-fashioned".

"Have you noticed that your mobile phones fit much more than it seems?" the Doctor asked from Annett's bag - he was giving her directions from there. "Just push the door and enter. No more words".

Annett thought that nothing would surprise her after this "doll" coming to life, but she was mistaking. As soon as she pushed the blue door, she found herself in a vast greyish white room, in the center of which there was a mushroom-like hexagonal table with a glass column in the middle. The air smelled with antiseptics, and it was warm here.

"W-where are we?" she asked.

"First of all, don't stand like a monument. See the red knob on the control panel? Pull it".

Annett obeyed, and the double doors closed behind her with a "whirr". Meanwhile the Doctor climbed out of her bag and onto the console:

"It's the TARDIS".

"Is this some kind of a spaceship?" Annett gasped.

"Actually, yes. Spaceship and timeship, all in one!" The Doctor squinted at a small screen in front of him. "Hmm, reverse the coordinates... input... Hold on!"

The whole place shook in a violent way, and Annett collapsed onto the floor, having almost smashed her nose against the console in progress.

* * *

The Program taught that child memory was as elastic as child bones, and that meant that all sciences could be learned by the age of three at most. But, since these two children were spoilt, at first their minds were to be cleaned.

This worked perfectly well. After some minutes all rubbish was removed from their heads, replaced by white noise, which soon was to become real knowledge. At the same time the process of extracting the useless body liquid and replacing it with fresh plasma which allowed to live longer and be resistant to all kinds of harm was going on.

But then an unexplainable thing took place. A different noise filled the place.

Woooosh. Wooooosh. Wooooosh.

The guards turned in all directions, but all the devices resumed their work without any trouble. While their minds were taken by watching the mechanisms, their ears didn't catch the more natural sounds - gentle patting of feet against the floor.

* * *

"Did you see how huge they are?" Annett whispered, running out of the TARDIS which had landed in some kind of a spare room (its outer shape had hardly fitted), while the Doctor was sitting on her shoulder and holding for dear life.

"Are you telling it to me?" the Doctor snapped.

"Oops..."

Annett hid herself behind the hugest control block (the room was filled with them, trembling with their humming), peeked out and held her breath against her will. Opposite to her there was a row of steel chairs, all occupied with children not older than three or four, whose ears were covered with large headphones.

"Brainwashing", the Doctor muttered. "Neverending cycle..."

"Who of them are your children? And how are you going to turn normal?"

"Wrong questions. I am their guardian, not their father. And I'm normal, just shorter than usually... See? They are in the third row, fourth and fifth from the left". The Doctor listened to the machines' noise. "Aha. See the main control block up there? Bring me close to it, and I'll take care of the rest. And remain quietly until there's signal... you won't miss it".

Annett nodded, though her heart pounded like a church bell. The guards were wearing helmets, so she hoped that they didn't hear her. Or thought it was somewhere away... The Doctor slid down her arm and vanished behind the control block.

Now what? Annett bit her fist not to burst into anything that could make the guards turn around. But then the whole place burst into yells and sobs of fear: all children that had been sitting quietly woke up and reacted as all normal children would. The Doctor rolled from behind the control block:

"Get rid of wires! Now!"

"Wh-what about you?"

"DO IT!"

Annett, trembling from head to toe, squeezed between the chair rows and ripped the headphones off the needed children's heads (and some more in addition - this sight was unbearable, so she just was to break some of it, and besides her parents weren't here). She continued getting rid of the metal prisons - not only taking the headphones off the kids' heads, but breaking them with her feet as well - until the Doctor, now of perfectly fine height of a grown-up man, grabbed two dark-haired kids from the third row, and they ran.

* * *

After Annett was transferred home, the Doctor decided to finally take care of Jamie and Victoria. He was afraid that at first they wouldn't understand him - after such a shock! - and now it was high time to do it. Jamie was seemingly sleeping on the seat next to the console room's back wall, while Victoria was sitting next to him, her head lowered down. The Doctor scooped her up and placed her onto his lap.

"Victoria? Victoria, my sweet, can you hear me?"

The girl rubbed her temples (which held tracks of something scratchy or attached for too long), blinked at him, and tears immediately welled up in her eyes.

"It's all right, Victoria. I'm here".

Suddenly for himself the Doctor realized that he was slowly trotting Victoria on his lap, whispering into her dark hair, while she was crying all of her tremendous fear out, having nuzzled into his shoulder.

"There you go..." When the girl stopped weeping and was only sniffing her nose, the Doctor wanted to place her on the seat next to him, but her little fists latched to his lapels and her bottom lip wobbled. "I'm not going to leave you. Do you believe me? Then let me see what's with Jamie".

Jamie wasn't reacting to anything taking place around him, even to Victoria's tears - he was standing like a salt column. Or no, as if he was a wax figure, not even blinking. The tension was in every single bit of him - he felt rough to touch.

"Jamie? Jamie, say something, please..."

The boy did not respond, frozen.

"Oh no. Oh my word, oh no..."

There had been an interruption. Doubtlessly, and it was to be neutralized as soon as possible, otherwise... No, it's better not to think what could take place otherwise!

* * *

Victoria knew that something was wrong with Jamie. He had never been so white and not responding to anything. But there was something else, apart from horrid noise that those robot-people had pushed into their ears, because Jamie was stronger than her.

The Doctor was fixing it, but she didn't dare to watch the process being done (somehow she knew it included horrid-looking devices). Victoria knew that she should be very very quiet, if she doesn't want to make things worse.

When it was over, Victoria finally made herself look at the result. Jamie was unharmed, if not to count two see-through wire-like tubes attached to his arms - one was filled with dark cherry-colored liquid, the other with pale white.

"See, they have already started to mix certain liquids instead of blood into him", the Doctor started. "I don't know what they wanted to make out of him, but it's better to perform a counter-deed before it's too late. He will be fine in some time".

"Wh-wh-why?" Victoria asked, hoping that the Doctor heard the same that she heard from herself.

"I've heard about such projects". The Doctor walked to the farther end of the room and allowed Victoria to climb onto his lap again. "It's for resistance. For example, chemists need resistance against various acids, poisonous mixtures and their relatives... Victoria, Jamie is going to be fine. I promise".

Victoria cuddled up to him in search for comfort again.


	7. Recovery

"It was just a side-effect in my case", the Doctor was telling. He didn't know if Victoria could understand him better than before, but he just needed to tell her something, because since the misadventure to the future where the poor kids had been nearly brainwashed (Jamie was still in the sick bay, blood being returned to his body instead of chemical liquids mixed in) Victoria was following him everywhere. She even waited for him next to the bathroom door! "They tried to shrink my brain, but shrunk all of me. I reversed the process in the main mechanism, and it made me become big once more... Victoria, I think it's time to visit Jamie. He must be better now".

He was right. After such a long sleep and all needed condition healthy colors returned to Jamie, and he finally reacted to the surrounding world: as soon as two pairs of feet sounded against the floor, he stirred and squinted, like a woken owl.

"Hello, Jamie", the Doctor softly called out. Jamie turned his head and attempted to smile, but consequences of the almost-surgery-operation took over him. "It's all fine, you'll soon be in the finest shape".

Victoria toddled to the bed on which Jamie was supine, stood on her toes and pointed at the needle sitting in Jamie's arm - the communication between the vein and the blood bag.

"Ow?"

"No, it's not needed anymore. It's not going to hurt, Jamie..." The Doctor pulled the needle out, and the only sound after this was the tiniest sigh. "There's a brave little Scot. Now let's sit up. Slowly, you don't want to get dizzy".

Jamie's head nodded after he sat up, but then he looked up at the Doctor and rhythmically flexed his fingers curled around the adult's thumbs.

"How are you now?"

Jamie shook his head, but then his eyes half-rolled into his head.

"No, don't shake your head at me", the Doctor tutted and helped him lie back down. "I appreciate that you have your own point of view, but now I don't advise you to make too brisk moves. You need to restore your strength, otherwise you'll fall like dead. Remain here, fine? If you need me, just call for me. I'll be in the console room. Come along, Victoria".

While they were making their way to the console room, Victoria tugged on his trouser sleeve:

"Jay-mee?"

"Don't worry. Jamie needs some rest, and every caution is considered. And I see that you both remained sensible", the Doctor assured. "I need to check fuel amount that remained. Yes-yes-yes, it's to be done from time to time".

* * *

The Doctor was almost unseen under the console and Victoria was looking through a huge book of old fairy tales when the TARDIS suddenly jerked in a violent way, and both rolled to the wall (which decided to turn into floor despite gravity field being present). Luckily their landing wasn't as hard as it could be, but nevertheless it scared Victoria so much that she couldn't help shrieking with fear.

However, the next moment the TARDIS straightened, and both released the breath they both were holding against their will. And realized they had company.

Jamie, holding a mop with both hands, was standing in the doors and turning his head in search for possible danger.

"Jamie!" The Doctor stood up. "Get back to bed, you little fool, you're going to faint once again!"

Jamie shook his head and held the wooden stick in a threatening way.

"Did you think that someone got into the TARDIS?" the Doctor asked, having recognized one more habit. "And you decided to protect us?"

The boy nodded, his dark eyes darting from side to side. He even seemed a bit disappointed at the fact that no one was there to fight. But the fact remained the fact: even in this infant form Jamie kept his defending nature. Having observed the room one more time, he put the mop onto the floor and stared at Victoria, who had already recovered from the sudden shake.

"Tor-ee-ah?.. Doka?.."

"It was nothing but turbulence. Nobody's going to jump from behind the corner", the Doctor assured.

The habits ended. Both children walked up to him and wrapped their arms around his legs in search for protection. The Doctor patted them both on dark-haired heads:

"It's all fine, you two. Jamie, I'm sorry for being harsh, but you still need to recover. I don't want you to catch another disease".

"Do-o-o-oka..." Jamie said reproachfully, and the Doctor imagined his adult self saying something like 'I'm not afraid of...'.

"I know that you fear nothing and nobody, but now you need to recover. Come along".

The duo obediently toddled after him. Jamie felt dizzy in the middle of the way, so the Doctor scooped him up.

"What did I tell you? As soon as you recover, we'll go to some place free of danger and have fun together. What about the... m-m... the ice cream planet?"

Victoria laughed the same way she had done after she had stepped into the TARDIS.

"Universe is infinite, and that means nothing is impossible, my sweet", the Doctor told her and started - without realizing it he kicked something light and flat forgotten on the floor so that it flew towards the wall and crashed against it. This was a small dagger, made specifically for Jamie and right on time: it could cut almost anything, apart from thinking matter - conscious living beings, for instance, so no one could cut him- or herself on it. A useful and very rare kind of metal items, it was, and Jamie even now didn't listen to advantages of not carrying weapons. The Doctor gathered it and with a mock-posh face gave it to its owner. "Yours, little sir", he said, trying not to explode with laughter.

Jamie dropped the dagger and threw his tiny arms around the Doctor's neck.

"Do-ka..."

"Only to you two", the Doctor mumbled, wondering what color his face just became - scarlet or cherry.


	8. Ice Cream

"It's not poisonous. I know that you haven't tried this kind of treat before, so do it."

Victoria blinked, staring at the waffle cone crowned with a ball of bright blue ice cream in the Doctor's right hand. Jamie was suspiciously eying his own portion - though it was white, as it is required, he didn't like its smell.

"Come on, you know you want it," the Doctor continued and bit a piece off his cone, which was yellowish green. "You were not afraid of alien food, and now you're refusing to taste ordinary Earth ice cream? Don't make me laugh... No-no, not so much at once!"

But Jamie already bravely took a large mouthful.

"Ah!"

"I told you," the Doctor tutted, while Jamie was waiting until the milk mixture in his mouth would get warm enough to swallow it.

Victoria smelled her cone. The smell was pleasant, but her 19th century attitude still remained, let it be in such form. Then the Doctor decided to use a traditional way of convincing children (and adults sometimes):

"Smells good. If you don't want it, I'll eat it."

"Mm-mm." Victoria pointed at his half-eaten portion.

"I mean it!"

Jamie, who finally coped with a too large lump, went on happily demolishing his portion, so the attention had to be turned to him.

"If you eat it so quickly, you're going to get a sore throat. Slower, Jamie, slower."

"Daddy, why don't those kids wear jackets?"

The Doctor glanced to the side to see a family, all members of which were dressed as if it wasn't such heat today. Even the two kids (the older about five, the younger... maybe three) were wrapped in jackets and knitted caps, as if their parents had been trying to imitate a walking sauna.

"That's because their dad has no brains," their father ('protected' as well) said loudly enough for the Doctor to hear. "Hey, man, can't you see that your kids are going to get sick?"

The Doctor sneakily put his hand into his pocket, searching for his sonic screwdriver. Speaking was useless here. Jamie was dressed in a pale pink shirt and wide pants (for even the Doctor hadn't found a kilt this size), and Victoria was wearing a neat yellow dress. A-ha, here it is.

"Steam out!" the Doctor sang, and all buttons on the kids' jackets got unfastened by themselves. "More steam out!" The adults' clothes didn't stay fastened for long, and in a moment their wearers were gone for good, screaming oaths as him. Jamie laughed and clapped his hands, as far as this was possible with a half-done cone in one of them. Meanwhile Victoria carefully licked the melted drop off her portion, and a wide smile spread all across her little face.

"What, you didn't see that coming?" the Doctor chuckled and yelled to the escapees: "Be careful what you fish for!"

"Da-da-da-da!" Jamie approved, blew strawberries at 'those who had brains' and went on happily munching on his cone.

"Hey, Jamie, I told you: slower! If you go on like that, you'll freeze your brains off!"

Jamie froze with a mouthful of ice cream, his cheeks besmeared with the mixture of milk and coconut. The Doctor held a snort of laughter back, but the kid already had a counter-attack: he pressed his forefinger, sticky with sweet substance, to the tip of his guardian's nose and giggled. The older one attempted to look at the result of what Jamie had just done, but only managed to cross his eyes, which made Jamie giggle even more.

"Once more, just once more..."

"Doka nose!" Jamie chuckled.

"Yes, Jamie, the Doctor knows what he can do to you, you piper's cheeks..."

"Doka Doka Doka," Jamie approved.

The Doctor rolled his eyes up. Things would've gone very different if they two were adults, but some things never changed. Like the ability to hardly listen.


	9. Theremin

"I just saved you from intelligent tigers. What else do you need from me?"

"You are not going to get anywhere unless you show your magic skills at tonight's ball."

The Doctor weighed all the possibilities. The TARDIS was locked somewhere in this palace, and guards were everywhere. So it wasn't possible to get anywhere, especially with two scared toddlers. How do they say? "He is wise who is able to choose the least evil." It's better to perform something unusual for this early XIX century crowd and then calmly get away.

"All right. I will. But promise that you're not going to lay a finger upon the children," the Doctor stated, while Jamie and Victoria were clinging to his legs, searching for protection. "Otherwise I might use dark magic, and you do not want that."

* * *

"Boom?"

Victoria pointed at the metal rods the Doctor was attaching to the base filled with machinery (from his pockets, of course; needed materials were only there, and he doubted sometimes if that would work.

"No, Victoria. I'm not going to make it all explode. Some... a little bit of... music, that would work..."

Jamie, who was in the other corner of the room which for now was a temporary lab, toddled to them, squashing a small pillow in an unusual way. The Doctor snorted with laughter.

"I'm sorry, Jamie, but it's not bagpipes."

"Bbbbbbbb." Jamie dropped the pillow, upset at the statement.

"I mean, bagpipes could be used if they were exotic. But here they're not. And now please allow me to concentrate."

After the device which the Doctor was making was complete (it looked more like a platform with two antennae than like a musical instrument), he began digging in the piano which also was here. Meanwhile, Jamie and Victoria got bored and began wandering around the place. They understood that the Doctor shouldn't be bothered, because if he fails, they are going to get into a big big trouble, but he would still get them out... Finally childish interest overgrew, and Jamie began tugging on the Doctor's trouser sleeve.

No one was expecting a reflexive move. Even the Doctor himself.

For a moment tense silence filled the place. Then Jamie jumped up and darted out of the room before the Doctor could have said a thing.

* * *

"In some time it will be no magic," the strange little man stated, while the present ones were eying him and the item which didn't look like a musical instrument at all. "Well... I know a perfect tune. But first you promise me two things. One: don't try to touch me while I'll be playing. Two: find my Jamie."

"Your what?"

"My Jamie," the little man replied in icy tone. "The little boy who was with me. And if you don't find him, I promise I won't lose my chance."

The group of servants set of to find the boy, while the little man began his performance. At first he reached out to the right stick of his odd 'instrument', and the horrid, unnatural sound filled the hall. He smirked and reached out to the left stick, then began manipulating his hands in the air.

The howling turned into a rhythmic sound, forming a complete tune.

Ooo-oooooo, ooooo-eeeee-ooooo.

Creepy music from the other side, that was clear. Then it turned into a three-fours waltz-like tune, still filled with otherworldly howling.

The little girl clung to the odd man's legs, searching for something with her look but not daring to leave for the real search. And no one moved before the tune was over. Only then the doors opened, and a servant walked in, holding a wiggling child by his hand.

"I hope you're satisfied," the little man said, lowering his hands. "Jamie? It's okay, it's over. We're going to get back to the..."

But the boy hid his face and whimpered. Having forgotten about this howling item, the little man walked up to the servant keeping him in place, crouched and reached out to the child:

"Jamie, do you understand that I didn't intend to strike you this way? I would've never done that on purpose."

The boy peeked at him with one eye, then unsurely toddled two steps forward, not knowing if he should be prepared for a counter-attack.

"What are you staring at?" the little man asked, eyebrows arched. "Heard me? Allow me to leave you peacefully... and don't try to use those," he pointed at the odd musical instruments with his thumb, "for wrong purposes. If you do, I will find you."

* * *

Jamie was obediently walking behind the Doctor, but, unlike Victoria (who was ready to bounce with glee, but the manners of her adult version were not allowing her to do so - and slowly giving up), he seemed to be indifferent to what was going on. Only when the TARDIS doors closed behind them, he darted into the corner and grabbed his "safety knife".

"Another grudge, Jamie?" the Doctor asked, tugging on the launch switch. "I've already told you I didn't mean anything wrong. Was nervous. You saw what was going on there..." He sighed. "Do you even understand what took place?"

Jamie blinked.

"Listen up, I promise I will never hurt you on purpose. You know that well. And this knife does not influence any thinking matter, you know that even better."

"Doka tyad," Jamie replied.

"Tired? Of you? Nonsense! Promise me that you will never even think about this, Jamie."

The boy made a couple of unsure steps towards his guardian.

"I think I know what you need." Before the little one could've resisted, the Doctor scooped him up, giving him a generous cuddle. A second later Victoria joined them as well. "There we go."

"Oooooo-eeeeee-oooooo," Victoria hummed, imitating the sounds which had terrified the XIX-centurers. "Oooooo-eeeeee-oooooo."

"That's called a theremin," the Doctor informed and led them to the room filled with all kinds of musical instruments. "One easy thing to do. Look, it creates the electromagnetic field, and you make it sound differently with moving your hands."

"Ooooooo," Jamie reacted, grabbed a pair of cymbals from the shelf he could reach and began rotating them. He seemingly wasn't offended anymore. "Ooooooo."

"Flying saucers, you mean?" The Doctor chuckled. "Oh yes. And flying pans too."

* * *

**A/N: Yes, theremin is a pretty much alien-sounding instrument (and it is the one used to perform those "oo-ee-oo" sounds in Doctor Who musical theme). Another musical theme in which it is used is from the series Midsomer Murders.**


End file.
